Ariel Dorfman

writerBorn: 5/6/1942Birthplace: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Chilean writer and left-wing intellectual who established himself as a novelist, poet, playwright and critic. His family moved to New York and then Chile, where he became a citizen in 1967, and a professor at the University of Chile in 1970. His first novel, Moros en la costa (published in English as Hard Rain, 1990) came out just as Pinochet came to power, and Dorfman was exiled for 10 years. While living in Europe and the U.S., he wrote fiction that addressed the coup in Chile. His critically acclaimed novels and books of poetry include The Last Song of Manuel Sendero (1987) and Last Waltz in Santiago and Other Poems of Exile and Disappearance (1988). His play, Death and the Maiden (1991) was adapted for film in 1994.